Doug Lilly, who delivers food to the elderly for The Salvation Army, peeks through a window to make sure his client - who didn't answer the door - wasn't lying on the floor from heat stroke in Modesto, Calif. on Wednesday, July 26, 2006. The client wasn't at home. Lilly has yet to find anyone dead while on his rounds but dreads the day that it happens. Residents continued to cope with the blazing heat in this Central Valley city which experienced another day of triple-digit temperatures.
PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle
**Doug Lilly less

Doug Lilly, who delivers food to the elderly for The Salvation Army, peeks through a window to make sure his client - who didn't answer the door - wasn't lying on the floor from heat stroke in Modesto, Calif. ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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Doug Lilly (left) of The Salvation Army looks in on Anna McIntosh, 92, while delivering a meal to her in Modesto, Calif. on Wednesday, July 26, 2006. Lilly wanted to make sure she was staying cool during the current heat wave. Residents continued to cope with the blazing heat in this Central Valley city which experienced another day of triple-digit temperatures.
PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle
**Doug Lilly, Anna McIntosh less

Doug Lilly (left) of The Salvation Army looks in on Anna McIntosh, 92, while delivering a meal to her in Modesto, Calif. on Wednesday, July 26, 2006. Lilly wanted to make sure she was staying cool during the ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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Candy Allen was relieved in Modesto, Calif. on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 after hearing that an elderly client, who she found in critical condition with heat stroke symptoms while delivering meals on Monday, has recovered and will be released from the hospital on Thursday. Residents continued to cope with the blazing heat in this Central Valley city which experienced another day of triple-digit temperatures.
PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle
**Candy Allen less

Candy Allen was relieved in Modesto, Calif. on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 after hearing that an elderly client, who she found in critical condition with heat stroke symptoms while delivering meals on Monday, has ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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John Perry pours cold water on Georgette Broyles at a Red Cross cooling center in Modesto, Calif. on Wednesday, July 26, 2006. Residents continued to cope with the blazing heat in this Central Valley city which experienced another day of triple-digit temperatures.
PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle
**John Perry, Georgette Broyles less

John Perry pours cold water on Georgette Broyles at a Red Cross cooling center in Modesto, Calif. on Wednesday, July 26, 2006. Residents continued to cope with the blazing heat in this Central Valley city which ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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Georgette Broyles (rear) and a group of children watch "The Polar Express" on a mini DVD player she brought with her to a cooling center operated by the Red Cross on Wednesday, July 26, 2006. Residents continued to cope with the blazing heat in this Central Valley city which experienced another day of triple-digit temperatures.
PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle
**Georgette Broyles less

Georgette Broyles (rear) and a group of children watch "The Polar Express" on a mini DVD player she brought with her to a cooling center operated by the Red Cross on Wednesday, July 26, 2006. Residents ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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(L to R) The view of the West Bay from Mt. Diablo Wednesday morning July 26, 2006 reveals a thick layer of fog and smog on the tenth day of the record breaking California heat wave.
Kat Wade/The Chronicle ** (Subjects) cq less

(L to R) The view of the West Bay from Mt. Diablo Wednesday morning July 26, 2006 reveals a thick layer of fog and smog on the tenth day of the record breaking California heat wave.
Kat Wade/The Chronicle ** ... more

Photo: Kat Wade

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(L to R) The view of the West Bay from Mt. Diablo Wednesday morning July 26, 2006 reveals a thick layer of fog and smog on the tenth day of the record breaking California heat wave.
Kat Wade/The Chronicle ** (Subjects) cq less

(L to R) The view of the West Bay from Mt. Diablo Wednesday morning July 26, 2006 reveals a thick layer of fog and smog on the tenth day of the record breaking California heat wave.
Kat Wade/The Chronicle ** ... more

Photo: Kat Wade

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Cooler weather stretching into inland

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2006-07-26 19:53:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- California began to cool ever so slightly on Wednesday from its worst heat wave in decades, as the possible death toll from the 12-day scorching reached 75 and electricity was restored to thousands of residents.

Temperatures dropped a bit in the Central Valley, according to the National Weather Service. Fresno went from 113 on Tuesday to 112 Wednesday and Sacramento from 105 to 102.

Most of the Bay Area also cooled, with a high of 65 in San Francisco, 98 in Livermore, 86 in San Jose and 91 in Concord, weather officials said. By comparison, Livermore and Concord were 109 and 101, respectively, on Tuesday.

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"The cooling trend is going to continue to bring relief to all of the Bay Area residents," said meteorologist Brooke Bingaman of the Monterey office. "Highs will be from the mid 70s to the mid 80s, with the exception of Concord and Livermore, which may hit the 90s."

Wednesday was the first day in a week the weather service did not issue a Bay Area heat advisory, a public warning if a prolonged period of extreme heat is expected to induce illness.

Meanwhile, coroner's offices across the state dug into the weeks-long task of determining whether heat played a role in the deaths of dozens of people across the state.

Seventy-five deaths were reported by 23 county coroner's offices, according to a survey by The Chronicle, with 28 of the deaths confirmed as caused by the extreme temperatures and the rest under investigation.

Alameda County was the only Bay Area county to report heat as a possible factor in deaths, but declared that the circumstances in both deaths were still under investigation. When people die in hospitals, doctors are able to take their temperature. Otherwise, coroners have to divine among a myriad of factors to see whether heat played a role.

Fresno County Coroner Loralee Cervantes would confirm only three heat-related deaths in her county on Wednesday. At the time those people died, each of them was measured with a temperature of 109.9 degrees -- the highest that the thermometers would measure. Another 17 deaths are under investigation in that county.

Cervantes, like coroners in several other counties, plans to do toxicology tests that could take four to six weeks to get back. In some cases, counties aren't officially declaring heat as a factor because they can't prove it. But facts suggest otherwise.

San Bernardino County has a pending investigation as to whether heat was a factor in the death of Thomas Ray Rodriguez. The 49-year-old city of San Bernardino resident was found in his car on July 21, still parked in his carport, where he was found by his mother.

Officials don't know how long he was dead, but the temperature inside the car was 140 degrees, according to coroner's spokeswoman Sandy Fatland.

Power was restored to thousands of customers in the Bay Area and northern California on Wednesday after Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews were able to restore electricity to neighborhoods. At total of 1.2 million PG&E-serviced households -- including more than 20,000 in the East Bay and the San Jose area on Tuesday -- have been without power during the past week.

As of Wednesday evening, about 2,870 of the Bay Area customers still had no power, said utility spokesman David Eisenhauer. Of those, 1,800 were in Santa Clara County, primarily San Jose. Many of the outages were the result of transformers destroyed by the heat.

"We are doing our best to get the majority of them back on by midnight," Eisenhauer said. There are 177 customers who have had their lights out for more than 72 hours because of a large underground cable that failed in San Jose and needs to be replaced, officials said. The other outages have not been more than 48 hours.

The dramatic and disorienting nature of the state's 11-day heat wave was demonstrated in the state's power grid. The hunger for electricity ebbed considerably on Wednesday from the past 10 days, when records were set six times.

But had it been a year ago, the 47,744 megawatts consumed at peak demand on Wednesday would have set a record for energy consumption.

"We're in far better shape," said Gregg Fishman, a spokesman for the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state's electricity grid. "But we're still seeing very heavy demand."

Although the Central Valley has experienced much hotter temperatures, the Bay Area was hit with more widespread outages because the region does not have transformers designed to sustain extended periods of high heat as they are in the interior valley.

Because a downed transformer affects as few as a handful of households, PG&E crews have had to respond to thousands of distinct locations. The utility company called in crews from around the state to deal with the problem.

But the power demand that burned out transformers was ultimately the fault of the historic heat -- and the thirst for cool air and the electricity it requires.